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Balloons do not go to heaven. They land in the ocean and choke sea turtles, and the ribbons entangle birds. Many times, they end up on a beach as litter. Even the “biodegradable” kind can hurt animals before they have a chance to disappear. Animals far from the ocean, such as horses, have been hurt and killed by balloons (they eat them when they land in their hay or they get spooked and bolt).

Some balloons have started fires when they got entangled in power lines. Balloons blow. Don’t let them go! Please share. Also, remember sky lanterns also are horrible for the environment. They have set homes, power lines, trees, and buildings on fire. Sky lanterns can also entangle an animal even if it is marketed as “biodegradable.” There are many safe alternatives to releasing litter into the air, such as planting a tree for your loved one and watching it bloom, or blowing bubbles into the air.

Thanks for looking into alternatives to releasing balloons and sky lanterns into the air. The animals and environment thank you! 🙂

This was sitting in my drafts! What a tragedy I never published it, so here we are. 🙂 I bought a house almost four years ago now – and I love it!Yep, I bought a house. It honestly feels rather strange to finally be able to say that. This has been a dream of mine for years, and something I have worked towards most of my adult life. The process to buy a house has take me a lot longer than I thought it could ever take. But, here I am. A Homeowner!

The process was definitely not for the faint of heart. Here is just a snapshot of what it took to get here:

Start Date: met with my Realtor February 19. End Date: closed August 24.

I put in 15 offers before I was accepted. 15. That fifteen contracts signed, fifteen bank pre-approval letters I needed to hunt down, and fifteen cover letters I had to write, pouring my heart out for houses I fell in love with.

Of those fifteen, four of those houses I truly loved. So, that’s three complete heartbreaks of thinking I found “the one” and learning the sellers didn’t agree.

But now I have my own home! It is something I am so proud of, especially since I did it as a single woman. Girl Power! I love my home, and can’t wait to make it my own.

Teacup pigs, also known as miniature pigs, have been all the rage for the last decade or so. But… The problem is, there is no such thing as a teacup or miniature pig. The closest a healthy potbelly pig can get to “miniature” size are Vietnamese potbelly pigs, and they typically weigh 100-200 pounds. Not so teacup, right?

Breeders are taking these poor potbelly pigs, underfeed them so they don’t grow to their natural full size, and make sure the mom pig is not fully grown when they breed her. This way, underfed, not fully grown pigs look a lot smaller. But it is, of course, very cruel. It also decreases these poor pig’s life expectancy. And a lot of folks who are tricked into getting these pigs usually are upset when their new pet gets a lot bigger than planned so they give them up to shelters.

So now shelters are overrun with potbelly pigs who have been mistreated, malnourished, and looking for a loving home. But, shockingly, there are not as many people looking to have a pig that weighs more than them. If you are thinking of getting a new pet, though, please consider these wonderful pigs!

Pigs are super fun, friendly, and SMART! I had the honor of working with the pigs at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, and those guys were picking up on the clicker training faster than any dogs I have worked with. I can’t wait to get a pair of pigs myself!

To learn more about “teacup” pigs, and their plight, please visit Best Friends’ website here.

It is a crazy time, and I hope everyone is checking in with their friends and family so we can all feel connected during this isolating time. A lot of people and businesses are going to suffer due to this pandemic, especially nonprofits, and especially animal welfare organizations. While an outbreak of a new disease is occurring, people are panicking and leaving their animals at shelters… and the number of adoptions is going down (or is down to zero because the shelters are having to close). This equals shelters being overrun with homeless animals.

There are several ways you can help, though! Reach out to your local animal shelter and see how you can help them. Want a quarantine friend for life? Adopt! Looking for a short term quarantine friend? Foster! Love animals, but can’t take one in right now? Donate! Animal shelters all over the world are hurting right now, and that means animals are going to be hurting, too. Please, adopt, foster, donate… help however you can!

And do know, there is no proof that animals can transmit the virus to humans. You can keep your pets and everyone will be safe. And you can bring in new pets… you will all still be safe! More information about that here from the CSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Please help if you can. And be safe – stay away from large groups, don’t go out if you really don’t have to. And do check in on your friends and family, and those around you who may be at a greater risk. We all need to step up and help each other to make sure the best outcome happens.

For almost 10 years, it has been a dream of mine to visit and volunteer at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. They are a revolutionary animal sanctuary that has changed animal welfare in this country, and are the driving force to the entire country being no kill.

When work was taking me to Las Vegas last winter, the opportunity presented itself for my mom to join me a few days earlier to finally visit and volunteer at Best Friends.

We volunteered with the pigs at Marshall’s Piggy Paradise for our morning shift. We helped prepare their morning meals, and then headed out to distribute their food. Getting to meet all those fun characters was a blast! Then, Mom and I were honored and lucky enough to be asked to do clicker training with two lovely, under-socialized piggies, Chester and Smokey. Chester was much more brave, but both had great progress and really will do anything for an almond!

The afternoon shift was with the dogs in “The Garden” of Dogtown. We took two dogs out at a time, walking Bolt, Smokey, Dorothy, and Cisco. The walking path is really nice and has spots to stop and snuggle with your walking buddy if they want. Most of the pups we walked were more about sniffing than cuddling, although Bolt did sneak in a few kisses.

Our first day of volunteer shifts proved to be muddy, a little chilly, and incredibly fun.

Best Friends lets volunteers do sleepovers with approved dogs and cats, so we selected a pup who hadn’t been on a sleepover in a few weeks to join us for the evening, Chinook. A big, loving goofy guy!

We visited Angels Rest with our new best friend and walked the beautiful and peaceful grounds. Dinner was carry out back to the hotel so we could enjoy it with our lovely companion for the evening. Chinook was a really lover boy and slept on the bed the entire night. He was also potty trained and was a true delight to have overnight!

The next morning, we dropped off the handsome Chinook and then headed to our final volunteer shift with the kitties in Cat World. Of course, we chose to go to “Casa de Calmar” which is where the FeLV positive cats live. Having recently lost my sweet Calliope who had FeLV it was the only place I could go.

These cats have massive indoor/outdoor enclosures and get to enjoy all kinds of hiding spots, toys, climbing options, and beds. They definitely are lucky kitties!

Best Friends proved to be everything I had hoped it would. It has been over a decade in the making wanting to come experience this place, and it was so very worth it. The animals are treated extremely well, the staff are amazing and kind, and the location is just phenomenal.

Visiting and volunteering truly was a dream come true. I can’t wait to go back!

Today is the first real snow we’ve had this winter in Colorado, and it was a big one. Monty would have loved it. If Monty was still here, he would have woken me up at dawn with an excitement of a child on Christmas morning. SNOW! He would run out into the yard and not come back when called until he was completely run out and covered in the white stuff.

Monty was named Montreal at the Elmbrook Humane Society, and he was from a western Wisconsin farm that was hording over 70 dogs. Just a puppy, he was underweight, not socialized, and terrified of the world. Monty wouldn’t walk unless he could be walking along a wall, and would pee himself if you touched him.

I adopted Monty in February, during the year I was between undergrad and graduate school. I worked at a law firm as a receptionist at the time and was living with my parents, because I had lost all my money trying to make it work in California (total fail, except that I got Loki there). I was only 22 years old, and Monty was about 7 months old.

Monty would be with me through graduate school, through dozens of boyfriends, multiple jobs, well over 20,000 miles of driving (including the 10 year birthday celebration road trip to the Oregon coast and back). We lived in three states together, in eight different places, and I bought my house partly due to the large yard that I knew Monty would love. We ran over 20 5ks together as a team. Monty was the best brother for both Loki and Calliope. He was also a wonderful foster helper, teaching dogs the ropes of being an indoor pup (including Penny and Gizmo!), and letting kittens play with his big fluffy tail.

Monty loved cooler temperatures, and while he would come up on the bed when I was first there reading and getting ready to sleep, once the lights were off he would jump down and go lay on the coolest floors (bathroom or front door entrance thanks to the tile). When my alarm would go off in the morning, he would wait to hear me get up and go into the bathroom before he so jubilantly would come bid me good morning. He would literally wait until he heard the toilet cover touch the back tank to come running.

His fur was so soft. I was constantly asked if he had just gotten a bath when people would pet him. No, he was just that soft! We couldn’t go anywhere without at least one person commenting on how handsome Monty was, asking me what type of dog he was, and then being all shocked when I told him he wasn’t some fancy purebred pup.

He hated rumble strips on the road, bath time, bugs (especially ones that went near his butt!), and was not a big fan of children. He was pretty much indifferent about other dogs, with just a select few of good friends (Lando and Roo!).

He loved swimming (eventually!), chasing shadows and lights, shredding paper, playing fetch, jumping and biting at the air (getting those mind bunnies!), treats in toys, and belly rubs. He liked to put his paw into this mouth while laying on his back like a total weirdo. When entering a room or area with many people, Monty wanted to say “hi” and get pets from everyone, so he would work his way around to get everybody at least once.

The sheer excitement and ridiculous noises Monty would make when I came home were the best part of my day. No one will ever be so happy to see me as Monty was after we had been apart, even if just for an hour.

He was my heart for almost 11 years.

When we got the news of this second cancer, one we could do nothing to battle, it was the most devastating shock. The CSU oncology team told me we had hours, maybe a few days if we were lucky. They offered to put Monty down then and there, but after I learned from them he was not currently in pain, I took him home.

The next week was dedicated to Monty. We went to all his favorite spots, spent hours out in the back yard sitting in sun and watching the squirrels. I got Monty every human food I could imagine a pup would want: hamburger, chicken strips, bacon, hot dog, pepperoni pizza, ground beef. He got all the treats in our cabinet. We had several days of him being totally spoiled and getting all the love in we could with the little time we had left. One evening, I let him outside to go do his bedtime business, and he wasn’t himself. I went to pet him, and he rested his head in my hand and sighed. It was time. Monty passed peacefully at home.

I miss Sir Montague every day. He was a one of a kind dog. It has taken me so long to write this post, because I keep trying to make it perfect for him. But I will never be able to truly articulate how wonderful he was. This will have to do. Monty was my heart, and he took a part of it with him.

It’s the Fourth of July holiday, and people everywhere across the nation have off of work to enjoy time with friends and family, eat and drink, and enjoy parades and fireworks. It’s a fun holiday, and the true mark of summer in the USA!

However, it is also a very scary time for many companion animals, especially dogs, in the country. More pets are lost on the Fourth of July than any other day of the year. Be safe! Please make sure your pet is microchipped, and wearing their tags on their collar even if you are keeping them inside. Please consider keeping your pet safely inside starting in the afternoon, with music and their favorite toys as distractions. Do not bring your dog to a fireworks show, and please try to exercise them first thing in the morning to avoid a firework scare.

It is truly a fun, festive holiday, but is also a very sad time for dogs who don’t understand fireworks. Make sure your pet is safe so they don’t spook and get lost on the busiest shelter intake day of the year.

However you celebrate, I hope you and your fur kids have a fun and safe Fourth of July!